


A Bit Of Friendly Advice

by afteriwake



Series: The Geography Of Us [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Eventual Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Greg Lestrade & John Watson Friendship, M/M, Married Mary Morstan/John Watson, Mary Lives, Mary Ships It, Minor Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Molly Hooper/Mary Morstan Friendship, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade Fluff, Mycroft IS the British Government, Nice Mary Morstan, POV Greg, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 16:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5213033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day after Mycroft kisses Lestrade rather unexpectedly, Lestrade turns to his friends for advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bit Of Friendly Advice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [majesticlolipop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/majesticlolipop/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Scotch, Considered (1/1)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/337664) by [earlgreytea68](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/pseuds/earlgreytea68). 



> So my dear friend **majesticlolipop** is going through a rough time right now and I offered to write some cheer-up fic for her. She asked for Sherlolly and Mystrade fic and since I couldn't figure out a prompt that had them both together I figured I'd write two separate fics! This prompt I've had for ages. I ran across [this image](http://s21.postimg.org/7wpbvw7cn/Convo_With_John.jpg) on a Facebook group I was a part of last year and saved it (though sadly I do not who to give credit to, so if you know, tell me so I can give proper credit) and thought it'd be fun to use it for this cheer up fic prompt since my girl is also a Warstan fan. So I hope this lifts your spirits a bit, sweetie. ::snuggles::
> 
>  **EDIT (Revised after a comment left which has since been deleted)** After I published the fic, I was directed who to give credit to! According to a comment from the lovely **DescendingSeaSprites** , the original gif set that my Facebook group grabbed the static image from was done by Tumblr user **[duchesscloverly](http://duchesscloverly.tumblr.com/post/88336617417/john-looked-at-him-in-surprise-you-okay-you)** (link takes you to the actual gif set on the Tumblr page) for the fic [Scotch, Considered](http://archiveofourown.org/works/337664) by **[earlgreytea68](http://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/pseuds/earlgreytea68)** (which is part of the Scotch series), so John and Lestrade's initial conversation (from "I...I’m sorry. I don’t think I…" to "He’s surprisingly good at it") belongs to them. **They are not my words** ; as I said, I was inspired by the static imaged GIF set and did not realize at the time I wrote my fic it had been inspired by someone else's fic. Because of that I have marked that my fic was inspired by "Scotch, Considered" now that I know where it came from so I hope that's okay. No disrespect was meant so please, do not leave angry messages saying I stole the fic as the situation is explained here and credit is given to the original author and the original GIF maker.

He wasn’t quite sure who to talk to about this. It wasn’t…well, it wasn’t exactly a _delicate_ situation, not exactly. It was just a situation that needed to be handled…tactfully? No, that implied there was something bad about it. That there was something wrong. And there really wasn’t something wrong. A smidge awkward, maybe. Mostly because he wasn’t expecting it, because it had actually been rather nice and all, but…

Mycroft bloody Holmes had kissed him.

It wasn’t the type of thing that happened every day and he needed advice from someone and he just wasn’t sure from whom to get it from. Sherlock was out, of course; he wasn’t sure the consulting detective wanted to know the inclinations his brother’s romantic pursuits took, and frankly if Sherlock wanted to ruin them then that would cause problems if he decided he wanted to go after him or…something, he wasn’t sure what. And if there were problems between him and Sherlock, well, then life would get very interesting for everyone. So it was best to keep him out of it.

His own circle of friends were small. He had coworkers of course, acquaintances. But there were still things you didn’t really make very public in the Yard and a man snogging another man was one of them. He doubted Sally would say anything about it; he’d said nothing about her carrying on with a married man, after all, and he knew she was fairly open minded, but she was predisposed to dislike anyone with the last name Holmes, even if Mycroft was different than Sherlock. Phillip wasn’t really someone whose opinion he wanted in this matter, to be honest. Dimmock either.

So no one at the Yard.

There was Molly, of course, but she’d been acting odder lately. Secretive. Back like she had when Sherlock fell, like she was when she was helping to keep his faked death a secret. He felt he had a better read on her these days so he felt the most obvious explanation was she had some relationship she wanted kept secret. Probably with the other Holmes brother, most likely, if he was reading the signs clearly. She could give an interesting point of view but she might not want to be confronted with it.

So there was John and Mary. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with Mary and her knowing glances and her smirk.

So…John it was.

He’d rung John up and was lucky that John was at home with Amelia, desperate for company since Mary was off having girl time with Molly. He’d come over and the two of them sat in his sitting room, tea and biscuits on the table, Amelia crawling on the floor, playing with her toys, comfortable silence between them. “So,” John said.

“So,” Lestrade said, nodding his head.

“Been a while since you’ve been round,” he said. “Anything interesting happened?”

Lestrade stopped nodding and then bobbed his head from side to side. “Not much. A couple cases that were kind of interesting, I think my superiors are considering me for a promotion…Sherlock’s brother kissed me last night, not sure what I’m going to do about that…”

John’s eyes widened and he stared at him for a moment before turning his head to the side and putting his head in his hands. “I...I’m sorry. I don’t think I…”

“You heard me correctly,” Lestrade said.

“He kissed you,” John said slowly as the door opened and Mary and Molly came in.

“Yes,” Lestrade said, nodding.

“ _Mycroft Holmes_ kisses people?” John asked, almost sounding incredulous.

“He’s surprisingly good at it,” Lestrade said, and then he sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Did you kiss him back?” Mary asked, moving to the arm of John’s chair and sitting down before smacking her husband lightly in the back of the head.

Lestrade nodded. “Well, after a moment’s surprise, yeah.”

“Good. Then get him alone, ask him to dinner, or cook him dinner if you can cook, then after dinner, _you_ snog _him._ Fair’s fair, after all.”

“It’s that simple?” Lestrade asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, he’s actually not that bad of a person,” Molly said, setting down the bags she’d carried in before sitting on the floor and scooping Amelia into her lap. “When Sherlock was faking her death I spent time with him. He’s prickly but nice, in a more…reserved way, I suppose. Very old fashioned, but he can be very passionate about things.” And then she smiled. “And I think he’s fancied you for quite a while, Greg. I just don’t think he’s ever allowed himself to think he’d ever have a chance.”

“What made him change his mind, I suppose?” Greg wondered.

“Probably the conversation you had with Sherlock when the two of you were forced to go to the pub undercover,” Molly said with a slight blush, looking down at the top of Amelia’s head and playing with her blonde curls.

Greg groaned. “I told him not to tell another living soul about that,” he said.

“Well, he didn’t tell me the details, I swear, but he may have mentioned certain things to his brother. Just…pertinent facts.”

Greg sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t kill him?” he asked.

“Did you mind his brother snogging you?” Mary asked. Greg shook his head. “Then no, don’t kill him. If they two of you ever get married you two can duke it out over which one of you gets to make Sherlock your best man.”

“Just pray you don’t get a repeat of our wedding,” John said.

“I don’t know,” Mary said, putting an arm around her husband’s shoulders. “It had a certain charm about it. And it _was_ memorable.”

“I suppose,” John said, looking up at her with a grin. Then he turned back to Lestrade. “Take my wife’s advice. Go ask him out on a proper date, either at your place or somewhere else. If you don’t take a chance you won’t know what you’re missing out on.”

“I guess I shouldn’t ignore such great advice, then,” Lestrade said with a grin. He stayed and chatted with the three of them for a bit, and then left the Watson’s home a little while later. As he made his way out he pulled up Mycroft’s number on his contact list and hit send. It rang three times and then he heard a click. “Mycroft?”

“Gregory,” Mycroft said, his tone soft but with a hint of uncertainty.

“I was wondering…do you have dinner plans for tonight?”

There was a pause. “Nothing that can’t be postponed to another time.”

“So you did have plans,” he said.

“Just a meeting with the Taiwanese trade ambassador, but he irritated me yesterday and I find I would like to make him sweat.” There was a pause. “And…if this is a chance to spend more time in your company, I would prefer that to trade negotiations.”

He grinned at that. “Well, it is an invitation for you to have dinner with me. I was thinking I’d cook. I don’t know how you feel about anchovies or clams, but I make a tasty linguine alle vongole with spring onions.”

“So long as you let me bring wine and dessert,” Mycroft replied.

“I’ll leave that to your judgment,” Lestrade said. “My place at seven?”

“I’ll be there,” Mycroft said. “And Gregory?”

“Yeah?” Lestrade said.

“I am glad you think I am a surprisingly good kisser.”

Lestrade chuckled at that. “Why am I not surprised you’ve got their home bugged?”

“Precautions. I’ll see you at seven precisely.” The call ended then and Greg made his way to his car, shaking his head with a grin on his face. He had the feeling life was going to get very interesting, now that he was going to essentially start dating the embodiment of the British government, but he found himself more eager than put off…especially if he got another snog out of it all tonight.


End file.
